The negative effects of trans and saturated fats on human health has been a topic of intense discussion for several decades. Numerous studies have shown that excessive dietary intake of such fats, particularly trans fats which are known to lower HDL and increase LDL, can severely increase the risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, stroke, metabolic syndrome, and other cholesterol-related maladies.
For these reasons, the American Heart Association recommends a maximum daily trans fat consumption of 2 grams, equivalent to 1% of daily caloric intake. On a global scale, governments have been pressured to pass legislation limiting, and in some cases completely restricting, the use of trans fats in commercial food products. In 2003, Denmark was the first to restrict the amount of trans fats in commercial items to 2% of total calories, followed by Switzerland in 2008.
Unfortunately, both trans and saturated fats are critical constituents of food systems. Trans and saturated fats provide both network structuring and solid-like functionalities to the food network. Eliminating these components from food products requires that they be substituted with other ingredients capable of providing similar solid-like behaviour and network structuring capabilities so that the quality and structure of the food is not compromised.
Finding such substitutes has proven to be challenging. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,357,957 and 7,718,210 describe an oil-in-water structured emulsion for use as a fat in many bakery and spread applications. This product comprises a closely-packed ensemble of oil globules surrounded by crystalline walls composed of several emulsifier-coemulsifier bilayers interspersed with water. However, these teachings focus strictly on the use of liquid vegetable oils to achieve a product with reduced trans and saturated fat content. It would be desirable to develop a substituted fat product having rheological properties of a more solid fat product, for example, increased yield stress and elastic modulus.